by Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports

by Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports

The mechanically flawed quarterback can be "re-engineered'' and given a fresh start beyond his failed New York Jets experiment, say two leading quarterback gurus who are willing to accept the challenge.

"It won't cost too much monetarily to fix Tebow,'' said George Whitfield Jr., who has worked with Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. "But it's going to take at least six weeks of dedicated, isolated training time.

"It's doable," Whitfield told USA TODAY Sports on Friday. "And I absolutely believe it can be done, and I would absolutely go in with him on it. He is going to have to make the decision to morph to the position -- to re-engineer himself skill-set-wise to quarterback. Footwork-wise, hip-generated throws, throwing up over defenders, it can be engineered.

Whitfield added: "Wherever Tim goes next year, he's going to have buckle in and dedicate himself in what is going to be a very interesting off-season for him.''

Another respected quarterback mentor, Terry Shea, agrees with Whitfield that Tebow is not only salvageable, but says it is a critical matter of matching Tebow's different skill set with the right head coach who can maximize his athleticism.

Shea concurred that it wouldn't take long to fix Tebow if he had a true believer instead of the false hope the Jets created when coach Rex Ryan and offensive coordinator Tony Sparano traded for him in March. They touted Tebow as the ideal Wildcat weapon, then used him for only 70 offensive snaps this season. Over that time, Tebow has regressed from the quarterback who led the Denver Broncos into the playoffs last season.

"If all of a sudden, Oregon coach Chip Kelly comes into the NFL next season, Tim Tebow would flourish in Chip Kelly's system,'' said Shea, the former Rutgers coach and NFL quarterbacks coach who has mentored Robert Griffin III, Sam Bradford, Matthew Stafford and Josh Freeman. "There's a future for Tim Tebow, if the right coach comes along.

"Where Tebow won't be okay is throwing from within the pocket. His accuracy will always be a negative.''

Shea said one of the problems besides Tebow's elongated wind-up is that he's had so many coaches since entering the NFL that the former University of Florida two-time national champion can't help but revert to his natural default mechanics.

"I'm sure you get to the point where you keep hearing all those voices in the background of your thought process,'' Shea said. "That's why, when you go back to most of the great NFL quarterbacks, a la Joe Montana and Tom Brady, they pretty much had one voice as their quarterback coach. Tom Brady had Tom Martinez. I knew Tom Martinez quite well, so I know what Tom Brady must have heard.

"Tim has that elongated windup and the ball drops below his waist. But I watched him warm up just briefly on TV the other night before they played Tennessee, and I didn't see that in warm-ups.

"But when you get under pressure, you'll see quarterbacks revert to what they've done all their lives. You wonder whether his mechanics will ever be altered enough to where he won't keep reverting to what he naturally does.''

The Tebow Wildcat experiment became a failure when Ryan and Sparano realized Tebow was a less accurate passer than they first believed. This week, Ryan named third-string quarterback Greg McElroy the starter for the last two regular-season games after benching turnover-prone Mark Sanchez. That means an unhappy and bypassed Tebow will not be with the Jets in 2013, even though he is signed through 2014.

Tebow clearly needs a fresh start, but Whitfield and Shea insist it doesn't have to come in the Canadian Football League.

"I don't think he wants to run quarterback draws and the Wildcat the rest of his life,'' Whitfield said. "I'm sure he doesn't just want to be a situational quarterback. He can get himself out of that.

"It's akin to having an NBA shooting guard who doesn't shoot very well. That kid is going to have to shoot 1,000 mid-range jump shots in the off-season.''

Added Shea: "Tebow has no chance to improve his confidence (with the Jets). Even though he has a very strong self-esteem, I'm sure right now his game confidence is close to zero.

"Obviously, the Jets saw Tebow every day. So they've made a decision: He's not what they need or else they would have played him more by now.''

Tebow's frustration leaked out this week when he was asked why the Jets wanted him in the first place.

"Some things are hard to understand,'' Tebow said. "All you can ask for, all you want is a chance -- a chance to go out and play the game you love.''

That chance may come again, especially if Kelly comes to the NFL, as some expect.

"The NFL is starting to feel it with the success of Robert Griffin III and a couple of the other (dual-threat) quarterbacks, three years from now, you're going to see maybe three or four Chip Kellys coaching in the NFL," Shea said.

"Wherever I've coached, I've always told quarterbacks, 'You won't appreciate it until you play for a coach who believes in you. Those guys don't come along very often.'''